Wagner T206 Auctioned in 1981

[mantlefan]

Wow. Trim "if 'someone' wanted"...and right now it's likely sitting in a PSA 5 holder in 'someone's' safe deposit box.

[Yoda]

I believe the Wagner might actually be Lew's own. I believe he sold his about that time. From his description, I believe it might have ended up 40 years later in a recent Goldin Auction. Just a suspicion. That's all.

[Ricky]

I thought the Gretzky Wagner was cut from a full sheet of T206 cards and that didn’t happen until the mid-1980s.

[robertsmithnocure]

I do not think that it is the Gretzky Wagner. It is probably the Jumbo Wagner.

[chriskim]

Would love to know more about that "Wagner cut out from a strip of 5" story! This is new to me!

[Orioles1954]

Did he go to the Larry Fritsch School of Grading? I bought one group of T213s from Fritsch where a Cobb with a punch hole was described as VG. After returning that lot, I couldn't help but wonder what a Poor card looked like?

[toppcat]

The irony is that in the 70's Lew used to rail against hobby dishonesty in his monthly TTS column and elsewhere. I met him once, at a big show on Long Island (Nassau Coliseum) decades ago where he had a table and I bought all three Encyclopedias from him. Tried to talk to him as the cash was forked over and he just kinda growled and turned away. I remember thinking this guy should be on top of the world, what's he so grouchy about?

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by toppcat

The irony is that in the 70's Lew used to rail against hobby dishonesty in his monthly TTS column and elsewhere. I met him once, at a big show on Long Island (Nassau Coliseum) decades ago where he had a table and I bought all three Encyclopedias from him. Tried to talk to him as the cash was forked over and he just kinda growled and turned away. I remember thinking this guy should be on top of the world, what's he so grouchy about?

Same experience here. The one time that I met him, at a show, I checked out the cards on his table, and decided to purchase a T3 in low condition that was in a plastic sheet. His interaction with me was a bunch of grunts...I don't think he ever looked at me, he was busy with something, his head down low. As I was walking away from his table, I noticed that the sheet he handed me also had another, much nicer, T3 on the back side. I went back to the table and pointed out the mistake. Once again, not a word, and no expression of surprise or gratitude, he just yanked the other T3 from the sheet and went back to ignoring the world.

brianp(arker)-beme

[GasHouseGang]

Originally Posted by chriskim

Would love to know more about that "Wagner cut out from a strip of 5" story! This is new to me!

Here's a picture of a similar strip.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

Here's a picture of a similar strip.

the "only" strip?

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

Here's a picture of a similar strip.

Cut that strip up and you have an oversized Near Mint Bowerman with proof marks.

Brian

[swarmee]

I thought Keith Olberman had the strip pictured. I think the 0000001 copy was just an oversized border.

[topcat61]

Originally Posted by Ricky

I thought the Gretzky Wagner was cut from a full sheet of T206 cards and that didn’t happen until the mid-1980s.

Most likely that is the case. There are before and after photos and Mastro did say it was trimmed. I think most people who are familiar with the case believe that Mastro trimmed the card on two separate occasions.

The problem I have is that if the story is correct, a full sheet would not only be worth 2-3 times more than the Wagner itself at auction, but more importantly, solve a lot more questions than answers we have about the set. If the card was actually cut from a sheet (and I believe it was) than that's probably one of the biggest travesties in the Hobby.

I did enjoy the book The Card very much, but I think the authors need to revisit it and add a chapter on the aftermath and Bill Mastro and Doug Allen's trial.